It’s been awhile since I updated this blog, and the very first day of 2016 felt like a good time to fix that. It’s a new year. A whole new year. I have no idea where the time is going but for once, that thought isn’t freaking me out. I’m actually… pretty excited.

This was me on New Year’s Eve, minutes before midnight, pondering if life would be better or worse in 2016 as a cat.

2015 was a pretty amazing year for me. It had its ups and downs of course, but I feel like I accomplished so many things, made huge life decisions that have set me on a path I am proud of, and will bring me to an even more amazing 2016.

Last year I:

Hit 1 year working at Microsoft, in which time I not only moved to the main campus permanently, I got hired onto a new team where my very specific skills are being utilized in a way I’m really excited about.

Started the UW certificate program for YA Novel Writing, which encompasses night classes I love every minute of and really has inspired me to work on editing my novel.

Made the concrete decision to edit my 2014 novel to a point where I feel confident submitting it to agents in hopes of publishing.

Completed my 10th NaNoWriMo in a row, a goal I’ve been working on for the entire decade comprising my adult life.

Celebrated 3.5 years with Joe, the most incredible human being I know and a big reason I am so happy and self-confident these days.

Chopped all my hair off and dyed it green! I feel more like myself than I have in a long time, and I can’t see myself growing it out for awhile.

Went to BEA entirely be myself (but as a result got to spend nearly a whole week with the wonderful SuperSpaceChick) and had the most amazing time being submersed in the book industry.

Completed FIVE cosplays over the course of the year, including Rapunzel, Blake from RWBY, Wendy from Gravity Falls, Joy from Inside Out and KiKi from the Little Twin Stars.

Didn’t have my vocal nodes impact my life in any way that kept me from doing things nearly the entire year. I’m keeping it under control, finally!

Read 78 books, something that means more to me than I can even fully explain – but other book lovers get it. Books really filled my soul this year. I’m so happy.

My twenties haven’t always been easy. I know that even at the hardest of times I’m still an extremely fortunate person: with amazing friends, a loving family, a house to live in right in a beautiful part of Seattle, a job, good health – these are things I try not to take for granted even a single day of my life. But my view of my own self worth, my personal happiness, my ability to work on the things that matter to me, the removal of toxic people from my life — these are the things that really came into focus for me in 2015. This has been my brightest year yet, and I can’t wait for things to just keep getting better.

In 2016 I plan to:

Make at least one more cosplay than the previous year!

Finished editing my novel by the end of the year!

Read at least 52 books (one per week!)

Invest in professional photo shoots for my cosplays

Hit year #2 at Microsoft!

Find a method of exercising and eating healthy that works for me!

2015 was all about working on my mind and spirit. This year I want to be about my body, as well. I’m hoping to make exercise and healthy food a part of my life in a way I’ve never managed to do before. I hope to take more time to relax, to learn more about health in general, and to look and feel great in my cosplays.

As always, it means so much to me that there are people out there who appreciate what I do, whether that’s watching my videos, commenting on my cosplay photos, reading my blog or just chatting with me on Twitter. I feel so lucky that people care about what I’m doing. I love that I continue to have YouTube as an outlet to keep people updated on my life, and here’s to 2016 involving many, many more projects and memories.

There’s something incredibly magical and infectious about knowing the weather is getting nicer. I realize it’s only March, but here in Seattle the sky has opened up and the sun’s peaking through, and I can feel it in my bones.

Seattle’s a funny place, because when the sun comes out, we know our time is limited. The sun is a finite resource here, and when we have it – we use it to its full potential. As soon as those clouds part, the city goes crazy. We plan vacations. We have picnics. We start jogging again. We sit on our decks. We make lists, we spring clean, we dust off old hobbies and vow to start doing them again.

This happens to me every year, and I am always thankful for those first, early rays of sun that really get my muscles pumping (both actual muscles and creative muscles). And after a solid three months of adjusting to my new job, I think I just might have started to find some semblance of a life/work balance again, which means I actually might have the capacity to take on these new summer plans I’ve got churning in my mind.

I am a chronic over-achiever. I mean this in every sense of the word – while I love saying yes, yes yes to everything, it often leaves me with not enough time to accomplish everything I set out to do, stress knots in my shoulders, and a to-do list that would make even the most organized cringe.

But at least when the weather is nice, I have that extra something on my side. Energy. Motivation. Positivity. The promise of long car rides with friends, inspiring conventions, seeing people we never get to spend enough time with, camping trips, and best of all – getting stuff done.

I have a lot of things I want to do this year. My convention list has eight events and counting, I’ve got a laundry list of cosplays I want to make, and I’m trying to bite the bullet and finally edit one of my novels. I miss doing Team Hypercube regularly. I would love to take a personal vacation for once. I’m still trying to read 50 books this year, work exercise into my routine, and keep in better touch with the people I care about.

It’s going to be a crazy summer. But somehow, the sun on my face on this chilly March morning is telling me I can do it. And whatever I can’t accomplish – that’s okay too. Because we’re only capable of exactly what we’re meant to do.

What are your plans for the good weather season? Does the hint of sunshine ramp you up? Let me know in the comments, and let’s all try to encourage each other!

Hello, lovely blog readers! This is my first post of the new year, and cheesy or no, I thought it relevant to do a bit of reflection.

2013 was an interesting year. It feels like I didn’t actually accomplish very much, but that’s mostly because I spent a LARGE majority of the year working on a project that still isn’t finished. Last year was the year of Job Hunters, and Season 2 is set to premiere in the next couple of months… so the accomplishments of my team will feel like a real tangible thing, you know, soon. Very soon. But! last year we managed to raise over $50,000 to make the second season of our show a reality, and that’s nothing to scoff about. I am so excited that we’re getting this close to the release of it, and I am even more pumped to imagine the looks on your faces when you get to see what we’ve created. I’m extremely proud of this project, and I really hope everyone loves it.

I also made a GAME in 2013! Jetpack Unicorn was an experiment in so many ways: in designing a game, in writing, in working with a company to realize a vision… Sometimes I totally forget it exists, because it felt so overshadowed by Job Hunters. But my game is currently available in local game shops all over the place and on Amazon! I think the whole experience is actually tied for largest accomplishment with kickstarting and filming my web series. Even if the only things I did last year were 1. make a game and 2. film a web series, I would still be ridiculously proud of myself. I threw every ounce of my creativity into these projects and for that, I had a very creatively fulfilling year.

But that’s not all I did last year! I also started this blog as another outlet for my writing and my thoughts, continued to cultivate and build the Team Hypercube community that’s come to be such an integral part of my life, and threw a badass Halloween party (the largest one I’ve ever “directed”). I helped raise over $2,000 for Extra Life with our 24 live stream, helped the Foundation to Decrease Worldsuck raise over $800,000 dollars with the Project 4 Awesome, and started my second rewatch of Battlestar Galactica, which I feel is extremely noteworthy and important to add to this list.

Each year I wonder how I will possibly top the one before it, and 2013 certainly set the bar high. I have a lot of plans and ideas for 2014, among them being learning to sew so I can start cosplaying, turning the new Answerly Book Club into a seriously awesome place for book nerds to hang out, and… well… you should just keep an eye on Team Hypercube. That’s all I have to say for now.

I hope the rest of you are standing at the edge of this new year with as much hope and energy as I feel right now! I know there’s a camp of people out there who think resolutions are stupid, but I don’t see any harm in starting the new year with a few goals. I would love to hear yours in the comments.

Thanks for sticking with me, guys. I’ll be updating much more regularly in the new year. xoxo

Kristina is a book obsessed, novel-writing, costume-making, project managing lover of all things cute. This blog is a snapshot of a married girl working in the tech industry and living her best nerdy life.